Page 136 of Swept for Forever
“Your boss couldn’t handle them,” I said. “So you went after me.”
“No, sweetheart.Youbrought yourself. We just gave you a reason.”
“What do you want from me?”
His smile vanished. “You know what your boyfriend’s looking for. We want it back.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The slap came fast, open-handed and nasty. A jolt pierced through my skull, and my ears rang.
He dipped his head toward me. “You’re lucky my boss wants this to look like an accident. Otherwise?” He reached out and brushed a piece of hair from my face. “I’d have more time. And more toys.”
I didn’t flinch. I wouldn’t give him that.
He pulled out a phone. “Call your boyfriend.”
“No.”
Another slap came, harder this time. My head snapped, and my lip split, blood blooming across my tongue.
But I didn’t make a sound.
I could take this. If this were all he was going to do, I’d take it. If it got worse, I’d still take it.
Because I wasn’t calling Dom.
I’d led myself into this trap.
I wouldn’t lead him in too.
38
DOM
We pulled up just outside the Lazy Moose’s main gate, but I didn’t drive in.
I couldn’t.
If I saw Elia, Claire, or Maya right now, I’d say something I couldn’t take back. Things slip when you’re barely holding yourself together, and I didn’t trust myself not to.
So I stopped at the fence line with the engine still running and my hands clenched around the wheel like it was the only thing holding me in place.
Noah looked over. “Dom, you’ve gotta breathe, man.”
I didn’t.
“Look at me,” he said. “We’ll find her. But we’ve got to be smart.”
I dragged in a breath, then nodded once.
Smart. Fine. But the fire inside me wasn’t cooling. It wasfocusing.
“The bullet’s deformed,” I said. “If we hand it to Missoula, it’ll get lost in the backlog for weeks. Maybe months. I don’t have time for that.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I know someone in L.A. A forensics expert. She’s damn good, and she’s fast. Her name’s Susan Nolan.” I scrolled through my phone and sent the number to Noah.
